Covers from Made In Brazil #5
Last year, I remember checking my tweets (the primary source of news nowadays for the Snobs), and seeing something about a magazine called Made In Brazil. Immediately, I was fascinated by the concept alone! Whether it was the yearning for a South American fiesta and other escapist fantasies, or a desire for something new, I was hooked. I proceeded to look up the magazine and the blog that accompanies it. From that day forth, I have been a fan of its use as a proponent of fashion and culture, people and beauty.
The magazine was founded in May 2010 by Juliano Corbetta in São Paulo, Brazil with the ultimate goal of promoting and highlighting the work of Brazilian models, photographers, stylists, designers, and artists. Made In Brazil has featured top male models, including Francisco Lachowski and Marlon Teixeira, and designers such as Givenchy and Louis Vuitton (no small feat). After picking up a copy of the fifth issue (number 927 of 1000), I reached out to Juliano with a few questions, with the hope of gaining some insight behind the niche publication.
Man Snob: What was your inspiration behind starting the blog and the magazine? Was it to showcase fashion, the people of Brazil, the culture of Brazil, or something else?
Juliano: The blog started seven years ago when I was still living in New York, and realized there wasn’t a single website or news source for what was happening in Brazil written in English or from the perspective of someone living abroad. It ended up evolving slowly into more of a fashion-focused blog because that is my area of work and interest.
Two and a half years ago when we started developing the magazine I never thought of it as a project linked to or related to the blog in any way. We wanted to create a publication that felt more like an art and photography book but to have it centered around male models because the Brazilian boys never got the same attention from the media as the girls, and we wanted to change that and at the same time make sure the boys had interesting work to do whenever they were in Brazil on vacation. We started shooting the magazine without a name in mind, and in the end all I could think of was Made In Brazil because it was all about the Brazilian boys, and we had shot the top models in the country for the debut issue.
M: What was an unexpected surprise that you discovered since your launch?
J: As for surprises, I never thought the blog would actually become the main international source for Brazilian fashion news, or that I would end up meeting and working with people that I admired from the early stages of the blog, but luckily I did. I also never thought the magazine would have the repercussion that it did, and that we would be able to launch five of them.
M: I’ve heard MIB described as a cult publication — frankly, it’s what we’ve been described as, since we started the first accessory-dedicated blog and extended horizontally — and would you agree?
J: Yes, I do think of Made In Brazil as a cult publication and it is something I actually embrace. We are already on our fifth issue, and we still only print 1,000 copies, so it is a collector’s item created for a specific niche. We also started individually numbering all the issues starting with the second one so that it would feel even more like a collector’s piece. The project is almost entirely independent, and it is a very expensive publication to put together because of its large format, number of pages, and the attention given to the printing process, but luckily we have a following that understands that and that appreciates all the work that is put into each new issue.
M: When you put together each issue, what do you think of first: the fashion or the editorial “theme”?
J: When I start thinking of a new issue, I like to think of a main theme or perhaps a mood. Since each issue is over 150 pages of pictures, there are always very loose interpretations on a theme, but it makes it easier for me to envision the complete package and to start developing stories with all the collaborators with a main concept in mind.
M: What’s your ultimate goal for the magazine and blog as they keep growing?
J: I feel very fortunate that we are already on the fifth issue of the magazine, and as it grows I hope we can continue to offer something different with every new issue and to start working with bigger labels in terms of sponsorships. I would also love to be able to work with different photographers and stylists who I admire, and to have more backing so that we can develop bigger ideas.
Cover, Issue #1
Cover, Issue #2
Cover, Issue #3
Imagery from the latest issue:
